Bagging The Baggage

Disclosure: 27 February

2012-02-27T10:28:00.003-05:00

This week was insane. Utterly insane. Day 1, although I walked around for a few hours enjoying the holiday, I made a cheesecake for the first time because David prodded me about the several pounds of cream cheese I've had in the fridge--and we ordered a pizza for dinner that night. Day 2, the rest of the cheesecake was my breakfast and lunch. Day 3, I skipped breakfast and had a reasonable lunch--but then I was ravenous and ordered Chinese delivery for dinner. I got a little bit more in control for the rest of the week, but I didn't go to the gym or do anything remotely physical except walk a little bit, and there were definitely things I ate that didn't end up being recorded (perhaps a few ounces of dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, for example).

I expected to be up. I expected to have to re-lose more weight.

I'm down 2.6 this week.

Daily Record
Day	Budget	Food	Exercise	Net	+/-
Monday 20 February	1,883	4,593	613	3,980	2,097
Tuesday 21 February	1,883	3,405	0	3,405	1,522
Wednesday 22 February	1,883	2,770	0	2,178	888
Thursday 23 February	1,883	2,235	259	1,976	94
Friday 24 February	1,883	2,105	0	2,105	222
Saturday 25 February	1,883	1,761	0	1,761	-121
Sunday 26 February	1,883	2,344	144	2,200	317
Weekly Total	13,181	19,213	1,016	17,605	5,019

Weekly Nutrient Summary
Fat	931 grams	43.9%
Saturated Fat	360 grams
Cholesterol	3,169 milligrams
Sodium	29,111 milligrams
Carbohydrates	2,099 grams	44%
Fiber	175 grams
Sugars	584 grams
Protein	579 grams	12.1%

Disclosure: 20 February

2012-02-20T12:43:00.003-05:00

This week, I feel like I started getting into the weight-loss tracking rhythm again. I know it takes some time, and I love weeks like this, where my effort yields measurable results.

Daily Record
Day	Budget	Food	Exercise	Net	+/-
Monday 13 February	1,909	2,490	424	2,066	157
Tuesday 14 February	1,909	2,636	716	1,920	11
Wednesday 15 February	1,909	2,831	652	2,178	270
Thursday 16 February	1,909	2,185	62	2,123	214
Friday 17 February	1,909	2,351	275	2,076	167
Saturday 18 February	1,909	2,557	481	2,076	167
Sunday 19 February	1,909	2,597	190	2,408	499
Weekly Total	13,363	17,647	2,800	14,847	1,485

I did much better tracking, exercising, and eating at home rather than getting delivery--I stayed not too far over my caloric limit, exercised many times (three days in a row on the stationary bike at the gym, but then I told myself I was too busy and sore to do so the other days and ended up walking at least an hour on each of those days, so it balanced out), and ate a bit better as well. I ended up losing the weight I gained last week--and then some: down 4 pounds to 220.6!

Weekly Nutrient Summary
Fat	597 grams	32.3%
Saturated Fat	277 grams
Cholesterol	3,017 milligrams
Sodium	25,340 milligrams
Carbohydrates	2,146 grams	51.5%
Fiber	184 grams
Sugars	632 grams
Protein	676 grams	16.2%

My nutrient profile is a better balance--more protein, a bit less fat and carbohydrates. I want to work on getting protein up to 25%, carbohydrates to 50%, and fat to 25% and see how easy that is to work with. I drink a lot of coffee with half and half and eat a lot of cheese, which are the primary sources of fat in my diet. Not exactly the healthiest options, so I'll have to learn (ugh) moderation.

Cycling: 15 February

2012-02-15T21:05:00.000-05:00

I met with a fellow gardener this evening--he has offered to share his landlord's backyard with me to grow vegetables in! I met him at the seed exchange a week and a half ago. It's quite a nice yard he has set up, and I'm excited to grow with him and the others who share the yard.

So, I biked 4.39 miles round trip--getting there was hard, going up the hill with my legs burning from the past few days of riding the stationary bike at the gym. But every mile counts!

A route mapped on 02/15/2012

Find more Bike Ride in Washington D.C., DC

Find more Bike Ride in Washington D.C., DC

Gym: 15 February

2012-02-15T14:41:00.000-05:00

Three days in a row, huh? I guess Monday's Disclosure is having it's desired effect--gotta make up for all that sloth.

It doesn't hurt that I've had a lot of work this week. My hobbies always get more face time with me when I have work to do!

I did another 62 minutes of a random hill program on the stationary bike this afternoon, burning 488 calories over 19.77 miles with an average heart rate of 118 beats per minute and an average rpm of 86. Although I did the same program and time yesterday, I didn't seem to work as hard today--the distance, heart rate, and calories burned were lower, although the rpm was higher. The difference was in the program. Yesterday's had a lot of really intense peaks with only one or two valleys to rest before the next peak. Today, there were two intense peaks toward the end of the ride, with only a couple semi-intense peaks for the rest. So, I got a good workout in--but I am not as exhausted as I was yesterday.

Also, this is my third day in a row, so I'm a bit glad it wasn't as intense. I think I will take a bit of a break tomorrow--I haven't done any weight lifting in the past few days, so I'll do some of that along with a few parkour exercises I enjoy: wall sits, hollow holds, quadrupedal movement, and perhaps box jumps.

Gym: 14 February

2012-02-14T14:52:00.000-05:00

Not to be outdone by a fellow plant blogger in the physical activity area, I went whole-hog today: 62 minutes on the random hill program on the stationary bike, burning 599 calories over 21.17 miles, with an average heart rate of 120 and an average rpm of 83. My heart rate was up a bit, but the rpm went down--because of the length of the ride, there were more hills to climb, and this particular one had some pretty sharp peaks.

I'll need those earned calories tonight for Valentine's Day. Although I had made plans for this evening including eating out and a show at a theatre, David broke his foot while hurtling over the hood of a car last week--so, instead, we'll be ordering in and spending a romantic evening in our little den. As long as I don't collapse from dehydration, that is!

Gym: 13 February

2012-02-13T14:08:00.000-05:00

I'm not happy with my eating and exercise from last week. So, I went to the gym shortly after posting this morning's Disclosure. But, because I have a lot of writing work right now, I spent only 32 minutes on the bike, burning 294 calories over 11.01 miles with an average heart rate of 119 and an average rpm of 88.

I also had a wonderful breakfast of cottage cheese and blueberries, copious amounts of coffee, and now a lunch of egg-n-cheese bagel sandwich (surprisingly not terribly unhealthy when the egg isn't fried, there's only one slice of cheese, it's on a plain bagel, and there's no butter or other spread applied). My protein intake is definitely high so far today!

Disclosure: 13 February

2012-02-13T12:02:00.001-05:00

This week was a cluster, in terms of my oral intake. Let's get right into it.

Daily Record
Day	Budget	Food	Exercise	Net	+/-
Monday 6 February	1,896	3,439	345	3,094	1,198
Tuesday 7 February	1,885	2,340	371	1,969	84
Wednesday 8 February	1,885	2,807	40	2,766	881
Thursday 9 February	1,885	1,726	161	1,565	-320
Friday 10 February	1,885	2,885	60	2,825	940
Saturday 11 February	1,885	3,284	363	2,921	1,036
Sunday 12 February	1,885	2,274	61	2,213	328
Weekly Total	13,206	18,755	1,401	17,353	4,148

The basic summary of the week: I barely exercised and I ate a shit-ton. I bolded Thursday's data because it's all a lie--I didn't track most of my day. I'm definitely over by much more than what my little table says--and the scale reflects that, for a gain of 2 pounds.

Weekly Nutrient Summary
Fat	847 grams	39.8%
Saturated Fat	362 grams
Cholesterol	2,718 milligrams
Sodium	32,102 milligrams
Carbohydrates	2,311 grams	48.2%
Fiber	156 grams
Sugars	687 grams
Protein	575 grams	12%

Although I decreased my carb intake (from what I tracked, at least), it's only because I ate more fat. At least the cholesterol went down, too. I really need to start entering the for-real nutritional information in the foods that I eat to get a better accounting of my nutrition. I'm sure the Kimchi Puppies I made didn't help at all.

Gym: 7 February

2012-02-07T14:44:00.000-05:00

After Saturday's adventure uphill and in the rain, I took a little break from exercising. Leg muscles I barely use were sore, and I just wanted to relax for a little bit.

Plus, I had catering orders to fill on Sunday, and yesterday was spent catching up on reading and writing I had put off during the weekend. I have plenty of Excuses.

Recognizing that, and the feeling of not wanting to go to the gym today, I got my butt over there.

It's not just psychological, however--my body really didn't want to be working. I feel drained, a bit. It could be my renewed calorie-tracking kick and my body adjusting to a new nutrient profile, or it could be that I'm starting to get sick. I did feel a bit woozy yesterday and was coughing a little bit.

I did get 30 minutes on the stationary bike (I definitely would have had a better workout on it if I hadn't had to get off and move it a few times so it was level on the floor--it kept rocking side-to-side like a defective child's rocking horse) and some weight lifting: 2 sets with 10 reps at 120 pounds of lat pulldowns, with an attempted third set that only got up to 5 reps; 2 sets with 10 reps at 90 pounds of chest presses, again with an attempted third set that only got up to 5 reps; and 2 sets with 10 reps and a 10-pound weight of back crunch things.

I'm sitting in a coffee shop across the street from the gym, arm and leg muscles twitching and feeling like they aren't working quite right--but I know what I did at the gym today isn't even close to pushing myself hard. I want to go to the cardio kickboxing class tomorrow morning--so I hope I start feeling a little more together by then.

Gut-Spilling Monday

2012-02-06T12:44:00.004-05:00

I recently started tracking all the food I eat again. I used to be on Weight Watchers and lost a whole lot of weight on the program--and, most of the time, I tracked. I went through a period where I was almost a raw-foodist (no real cooked foods, very simple meals of raw vegetables, perhaps some hummus or the occasional bread product), so I didn't track for a few months. Once I hit lifetime (I reached my goal weight of 187 [where I had a body fat percentage in the "athletic" range {it was about 11-13%} despite my BMI saying I was still overweight--any less and I would have started to look gaunt] and maintained it for 6 weeks), I struggled to keep up the good behaviour for various reasons--my personal situation changed drastically, several times; I moved internationally, several times; and my professional life has been on a massive rollercoaster for more than a year.

But, the one thing that really helped me stay motivated and going in my previous weight-loss program was tracking. Monitoring everything that goes in your mouth makes you really wake up and realize how much you stick in there--and how much of it you don't really need. Beyond that basic revelation, developing a sense of compromise is integral--for example, is eating Item A worth riding a stationary bike for 1.5 hours to "earn" the calories needed to "pay" for it? Usually, the answer is "no." I'm still working to getting back to considering the effort required to earn each food item--which used to be second nature to me.

On Mondays, I am now going to post a summary of my caloric intake for the week and "earned" calories through various exercise. This is an added level of accountability--full disclosure of all my naughty, sneaked foods and guilty pleasures.

I am tracking my intake with Lose It!, a website and iPhone app that has a lot of food items, so even when I can't find exactly what I'm eating, at least I can choose something to record so the item isn't lost in the ether--although that has its own problems, as posited below.

With a goal of losing 2 pounds per week (which is the maximum suggested for sustainable, healthy weight loss), I have a caloric budget of 1,944 per day. Some things that I wasn't used to tracking on Weight Watchers, such as pears or a handful of carrots, are now included in my budget (small fish though they are, calorie-wise), but sometimes I do forget them. In the same vein, I often forget to log random walks--in Weight Watchers, you pick something along the lines of "Sedentary," "Moderately Active," and "Active" to determine your Points values when you sign up--so if you are a kick-boxing instructor, for example, your usual classroom activities are built into your plan, but if you do additional exercise on the side, you'd log that. With Lose It!, nothing is taken into account when you start the program--even walking to the refrigerator could net you a few extra calories to chew on! But when I'm walking around the grocery store or to a friend's house, I don't always remember to log that, even though it could easily add up to a few hundred calories per day (on days I actually wander around, that is).

With all that potential forgetting in mind, I was still over my caloric budget by 3,283 calories this week.

Daily Record
Day	Budget	Food	Exercise	Net	+/-
Monday 30 January	1,944	3,275	821	2,454	510
Tuesday 31 January	1,944	2,841	420	2,421	477
Wednesday 1 February	1,944	3,287	0	3,287	1,343
Thursday 2 February	1,944	2,505	248	2,256	312
Friday 3 February	1,944	3,620	933	2,687	743
Saturday 4 February	1,944	3,053	1,278	1,775	-169
Sunday 5 February	1,896	2,215	252	1,963	67
Weekly Total	13,560	20,796	3,952	16,843	3,283

I have been using Lose It! on and off for the past year and a half. During that time, I have found that the caloric intake it suggests for me is always a bit low--I end up losing weight even when I consistently eat several hundred calories over what I should, even after eating my earned exercise calories. That happened for the first few weeks in Weight Watchers, too--I consistently overate, sometimes the equivalent of 2.5 extra days worth of food, and lost weight. At the beginning. So although I was about a day and a half worth of calories over my budget this week and still lost several pounds (I can't actually be sure--I weighed myself fully clothed on Friday 27 January and clocked in at 230, way more than I've been in the past two years. Yesterday, I weighed in in the morning at 222.6--without clothes--and that's why Sunday's calorie budget is lower than the other days.), but that buffer won't last. In a few weeks, I'll have to be within my budget in order to see the benefit. Luckily, I have a bit more time to get settled into the habit of tracking!

National guidelines suggest macronutrient proportions of 20-35% for fat, 45-65% for carbohydrates, and 10-35% for protein. Although I fall in those healthy ranges in terms of what I ate during this past week, I'd still like to decrease the fat and carbohydrate portion and up the protein. Those guidelines also say to keep sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams daily (16,100 milligrams per week)--I doubled that. And cholesterol is suggested at 200 milligrams or less each day--I ended up with about 865 milligrams per day. I don't necessarily completely trust this breakdown, but I can't completely discount it either--I search for food items, and often, the closest match in the Lose It! system is an item from a frozen-foods section or restaurant, both of which likely contain a ton of sodium and cholesterol. Even though almost everything I ate was made by my own hands with ingredients I totally know all the nutritional information for (and I'm notorious for not including "enough" salt in my dishes), I searched and tracked items from the app rather than spending the time to add individual recipes and calculating it out. Doing so, however, would give me a much better picture of my actual intake than what is shown below--because now I'm very concerned! No wonder my cholesterol hasn't changed despite having dropped a ton of weight and gone vegetarian years ago--although the overall number is in a healthy range, my HDL ("good" cholesterol) levels have consistently been lower than the doctors seem to like and my LDL ("bad" cholesterol) levels are always a bit high.

Weekly Nutrient Summary
Fat	727.4 grams	31.3%
Saturated Fat	283.8 grams
Cholesterol	6,060.4 milligrams
Sodium	31,923.5 milligrams
Carbohydrates	2,914.2 grams	55.8%
Fiber	254.7 grams
Sugars	916.8 grams
Protein	673.9 grams	12.9%

As you can see from my nutrient breakdown, my carbohydrate and fat intake is a bit high--I eat a lot of baked goodies that I create (the first several days, I survived almost entirely off of leftover biscotti from the DC Grey Market) and coffee with cream and Splenda.

Noticing that, toward the end of the week I started making more bean-focused dishes: Maangchi's kongjang (teriyaki-like soybean side dish); home-made Thai panang tofu; and miser wat, Ethiopian spicy red lentil stew. I'll start adding recipes that help keep me satisfied and losing weight to The House Husband and linking them on my Monday Disclosure posts--I think the miser wat will be the first one! Injera bread is (perhaps not quite) surprisingly uncaloric!

Cycling: 4 February

2012-02-04T19:32:00.000-05:00

Ouch.

Today was rough. Although it was cold (almost freezing when I left the apartment) and threatening rain all day, I did the bike ride I told myself (and you) that I would:

13.67 miles from here to Green Spring Gardens for a seed exchange.

And I felt like dying because of all the hills.

Ride to Green Spring Gardens

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It ended up being 13.81 for various reasons (I had to backtrack once or twice and I didn't follow the exact route out of DC). Then, I did another 3.16 miles to the metro--with David, who randomly showed up right at the end of the seed exchange!

3.16 mi General Road Cycling in Alexandria on Feb 4, 2012 16:58

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That's a total of 16.97 miles for the day. I call that a good day.

Cycling and Gym: 3 February

2012-02-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

I did a twofer again today--I biked downtown to a gym to work out with David during his lunch break, and I biked back home. I got 5.46 miles in around town, round-trip:

5.46 mi General Road Cycling in Washington on Feb 3, 2012

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At the gym, I pedaled 35 minutes, working off an estimated 325 calories and cycling 9.25 miles using a random hill program at kind of a medium resistance setting.

While David was still on the bicycle, I went to the weight-lifting area and did a few lat pulldowns: 2 sets with 12 reps at 120 pounds. Then I went to the chest press machine and did 2 sets with 12 reps at 95 pounds. Then I found one of the back-crunch-thingummybobs and did 2 sets with 12 reps holding a 10-pound weight. Then I was about done. I'm pretty sure I should up my sets or weights with the lat pulldowns and chest presses, but AT&T reception was horrid in that location--I couldn't check the stats from the last time I did these exercises. Next time, I'll try to remember to add a full set of lat pulldowns, but with 10 reps each, and ditto for the chest presses.

I'm happy to report that this particular location (which I've never been to) was at least okay--the bike wasn't broken, the machines weren't being hogged by squatters, and the lunch-time crowd was light.

Video: 2 February Cycling

2012-02-03T15:01:00.000-05:00

I have been using my iPhone as a video-recording device for some of my rides. It's not nearly adequate--I run out of storage space on the 32-gigabyte phone in a matter of minutes. What if I want to go on a 4-hour ride and share it with folks? David has a battery pack I can hook up to the phone--but the way I have it "mounted" (clipped onto my backpack, so it shakes every time I pedal, and it has to be attached in just such a perfect way or all you get is a view of my hand on the handlebars) and the storage space makes this an issue.

I'll try to figure something out.

In the meantime, here's a shaky, poorly edited video of a portion of my trip around town yesterday. I cut out all the time I spent at the ATM depositing cash from the DC Grey Market last weekend, and apparently the phone also decided not to record the jaunt from 14th Street over to U Street via Florida Avenue (not sure why it stopped recording and started up again later). It finally ran out of space when I was just about at the third stop, where I picked up rice noodles for a gluten-free catering order.

Cycling: 2 February

2012-02-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

I need to start going to the gym and cycling more, but it has been so nice outside lately. Problem is, I think I get a better workout in the gym--the bike controls the resistance when I use a preset program, and I just keep going. When I'm out on the road, I slow down--seemingly more when I'm with David than when I'm alone, but then, I don't usually do anything more than a few miles by myself, anyway.

Today, I wandered around the city for a few shopping errands, getting 3.1 miles in.

3.10 mi General Road Cycling in Washington on Feb 2, 2012 15:55

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It's definitely better than nothing! With all the support my friends and family are showing me in donating for AIDS/LifeCycle, I feel it only fair to do my part and get my ass on that bike seat. I'm still concerned about the brake being bent or the wheel falling off--yet again. But like with the nerve-damaging slice I have on my finger, I can't afford to see the professionals about it, so I'll work with what I've got!

To keep pushing myself, I'm doing a few things in the coming weeks. This Saturday, I plan on riding out to Virginia for a seed exchange. I plan on using this route:

Columbia Heights to Green Spring Gardens Park

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There's a 200-foot climb between mile 4 and mile 7 (of a total of 13.67 miles, one way)--it doesn't seem like that much, but there's an 80-foot climb in the route I took today (going up 18th Street), and although that's only over the course of a mile or so, it always makes me want to keel over (a lot less so than when I first started cycling a year ago, but still). Prolonged inclines are the bane of my cycling existence. I've done that climb in Arlington before, and I'm not looking forward to doing it again. I am, however, looking forward to looking forward to doing it--then I'll know I'm ready for AIDS/LifeCycle's legendary Quad Buster.

One of my DC State Fair comrades encouraged me to register for the Vasa ride in early March, put on by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the House of Sweden. David rode this last year--in the rain!--almost solely for the blueberry soup, I believe. I'm not doing the 59 miler that David'll surely do; I registered for the challenging-yet-perhaps-manageable-for-me 30-mile ride.

Still plenty of time to train before then!

Cycling: 31 January

2012-01-31T20:37:00.000-05:00

I biked down to Hains Point today with David. It was nice out, so David didn't wear a jacket (I did). But, I don't go fast enough on my bike for him not to get cold, it seems--he was on his uberexpensive road bike meant for speed, I was on my heavy trail bike meant for rougher terrain, limping along with a bent brake disc on the front wheel. My average speed ended up being 8.61 miles per hour (1 hour 10 minutes for a total of 9.47 miles biked). I didn't end up biking all the way back home--I'm not used to biking on the road anymore, and my butt started hurting. I think my legs are still stiff, too, from yesterday around town and at the gym.

I need to do this much more regularly if I'm ever going to make it to ALC!

9.47 mi General Road Cycling in Washington on Jan 31, 2012 19:28

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Cycling and Gym: 30 January

2012-01-30T20:24:00.002-05:00

Today I got a twofer--I cycled to and back from the gym, as well as cycled at the gym!

I didn't go to my neighbourhood location, it was one downtown near David's office. It doesn't seem to matter which location I end up going to, I am getting increasingly fed up with the entire Washington Sports Club chain. The Fitness First gym I used to go to had everything I wanted at less than half the monthly fee and a much more friendly and respectful attitude from both staff and patrons. Maybe I was spoiled that it was my first-ever gym membership and I should just get used to the typical DC-like behaviour in WSC locations, but it grates on me so bad.

I was going to do a rant, but it's not worth it. I just don't appreciate the general attitude and inconsideration of WSC patrons and the random poor quality and lack of upkeep of machines in a gym that charges me almost three times what I used to pay for what I consider to be a superior facility.

So, anyway, I biked 17 minutes downtown to the gym, and another 17 northbound back home, for a total of about 4.25 miles, according to the MapMyFitness route below (it's not exact, because the elementary school is just a start/stop point in the general vicinity of home, to throw off stalkers for a few minutes, at least). The route actually has a climb rating (the lowest, 5--but it's rated, which means I had a significant incline of some distance to overcome!).

While at the gym, despite the stationary bike's proclivity toward deciding that it didn't want to offer resistance when I pedaled--but only on every seventh revolution or so--I managed 19 minutes before the thing decided that I was no longer on the bike and shut down. The first bike I was on felt like something was broken on the inside--it was impossible to get a smooth rotation, and the machine only flickered on, barely registering that someone was trying to use it. I also ended up getting in 2 sets with 15 reps at 95 pounds on the chest press machine as I walked back to the locker room in a huff over the bicycle situation.

A route mapped on 01/30/2012

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I also tried to take videos of my ride--a test for later this year when it's nice and I try longer routes into the nearby countryside. I need a better way to attach my iPhone so it has a more front-on angle. I probably also need some video-editing software or something. I'll be posting that video later in the week once I can get it off my phone and figure out how to speed up the frame rate about 20-fold--no one wants to watch 34 minutes of my hand on the handlebar, I'd imagine.

AIDS/LifeCycle

2012-01-23T18:34:00.006-05:00

I've mentioned before that I'm registered to participate in AIDS/LifeCycle this June.

After my hour-long ride at the gym (in fact, I was just getting out of the shower at home), I got a call from my Cycling Rep for the ALC event. I had recently e-mailed and called her to try to set up Team PFLAG, because David and I preregistered at last year's event, so it was not possible for us to do this for ourselves.

She had a lot of encouraging words for me as a first-time ALC cyclist. I do need quite a bit of encouragement--I'm terrified of the idea of riding 545 miles on my bike in just a few months. I know it'll be amazing--and painful--but I really want to do this. That's part of what this blog is all about, and completely what the little effort-tracking sidebar to the right is all about.

I went back to 22 September, the first date I am counting as part of my ALC Training record, and then graphed the distance I've biked outside and the time I've spent on the bike indoors. Then, I added the distances each day for this June's ride (using last year's mileage, which may vary this year but is still pretty reasonable, I'm sure).

(The first day of the graph is 1 September, even though the first day I'm counting is 22 September. OpenOffice doesn't seem to have an elegant graph editor, so the dates don't show up on the bottom. On the far right is June 3-9, the dates of AIDS/LifeCycle. The purple graph corresponds to minutes spent on stationary bicycles in gyms with the axis on the right; orange is miles rode on my Trek 4300 trail bike [Railbank, I call him] outside, with miles on the left axis.)

I'm even more terrified to know that my longest ride is still only half of the length of the shortest day during ALC. I have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to complete this ride--or even the first, 80-plus-mile day of it.

Beyond the effort I need to put in to get to a place where I can ride 100 miles a day several days in a row, I need to get to a place donation-wise to even be able to participate. I wouldn't mind you sending a few greenbacks ALC's way so I can participate in June!

Gym: 23 January

2012-01-23T15:21:00.001-05:00

I went to the gym this afternoon, after applying to a few jobs and attempting to find something to pitch for freelance articles.

I spent 62 minutes on the stationary bike doing an alpine hill program. I thought it would add extra peaks as I doubled the time for the program, but it still had only 3 peaks where I worked hard for up to five minutes at a time, with gradients of less intensity on either side.

I get the feeling that the random hill program has a little more variation in the peak intensity, which is nicer for longer rides (>30 minutes), whereas the alpine hill program is probably better for shorter warm-ups when I plan on other activities in the gym.

Anyway, my stats for this ride included an average of 86 revolutions per minute, an average heart rate at 127, 22.16 miles pedaled, and an estimated 619 calories burned.

Gym: 21 January

2012-01-21T18:02:00.001-05:00

Today was a nice, relaxing day. It started with seeing a friend out at 1 am after a fun night of hanging and drinking coffee. We slept in until 10:30, I transplanted a few dozen seedlings into little plastic shotglasses while David worked on something for work, and then we headed to the gym.

I spent 45 minutes on a trainer in the spin room because the 4 less-professional stationary bikes I prefer were all in use. Half of the trainers in the spin room are hooked up to generate electricity--I made only 45.7 watt-hours while on the bike. David, who spent a little over an hour on the one next to me, reached 200 or so watt-hours. He is able to push himself harder than I do. That's why I like the random hill programs--I work harder that way.

I got off the bike after the TV show I was watching on Netflix on my phone ended and headed out to lift weights. Or, rather, use some machines.

I did my favourite lat pulldowns, 3 sets with 12 reps at 120 pounds (the third set was only 10 reps, with a break between the first 6 and the last 4--I am pushing myself to get better, and I am.

Then I did 2 sets with 8 reps at 100 pounds of chest presses, followed by 3 sets with 10 reps of back crunch things, without additional weight. Adding an extra set would be challenging enough, I thought. Next, if I remember, I'll increase the reps too.

After that, I wentto see if David wanted to practice quadrupedal movement (crawling) in one of the free classrooms, but he was still cycling, so I went to the shoulder press machine. I did 2 sets with 10 reps--the first was at 70 pounds, the second at 50, and even then, I paused after the first 7 reps. I thought about doing something else--perhaps ab-related--but I was (am) wiped. And hungry. So now it's dinner time!

Cycling: 18 January

2012-01-18T12:47:00.001-05:00

I biked 2 miles downtown today--my legs complaining the entire way because of the kickboxing class this morning. Also, the front disc brake is still bent and not happy. I must get that fixed...

Gym: 18 January

2012-01-18T11:18:00.000-05:00

I went to the gym earlier this morning. Luckily, it's a regular work day, not a holiday, so there were much fewer people there at 9 AM.

I arrived a bit earlier than 9:30, when the cardio kickboxing class I wanted to take started, and spent 5 minutes warming up on the bike, going 2 miles on an Alpine Hill program. I usually use Random Hill, but I wanted to try something different. The sharp peaks and rests in the Alpine Hill program might make it my new default!

The hour-long cardio kickboxing class was killer. After a few dozen kicks with one leg, I was more just shaking it a little than lifting and kicking. I know how to punch--but not dozens of punches in a row.

If I ever went up against Xena and she just blocked all of my attacks, I'd wear myself out in about 5 minutes. Then again, I wouldn't be worrying about combination attacks--I'd be looking for some sort of heavy blunt object. Oh, how I miss brawling!

Gym: 16 January

2012-01-16T21:43:00.001-05:00

I went to the gym this afternoon with David, after a long day of baking and cooking (french toast and veggie sausage gravy over homemade buttermilk biscuits followed by tests of my veggie Shepherd's Quiche recipe).

Because I had a meeting at 5 tonight, I spent only 25 minutes on the stationary bike (8.15 miles, 86 average revolutions per minutes, 176 calories burned). I then did 3 sets with 10 reps of back crunch things, with the second set using a nearby 10 pound weight. After, I did 2 sets of 12 reps at 120 pounds of lat pulldowns.

Then, I wandered around aimlessly, attempting to find another machine I wanted to use. Unfortunately, squatters had proliferated throughout the gym--each machine I decided I wanted to try had a random dude just sitting on it. Not using it. Just sitting there. I wandered the gym three times--same dudes, not using the machines, just chillin' out on 'em.

Fed up, I wandered out of the door.

I just got an e-mail from my old gym (y'know, trying to get me to join again). It's two miles downtown (the only location in DC), but I might actually go there if it means I can avoid the unmitigated doucheyness of the people who go to the gym near my apartment.

Activity: 12 January

2012-01-12T18:11:00.000-05:00

While in South Carolina for the holidays, David and I saw an infomercial on a hotel TV for Insanity, a max-rep body-weight interval fitness training. It seemed interesting to both of us, what with our move from me cooking homemade General Tso's Tofu to being more healthy and fit, and it seemed as if it'd be a great complement to parkour.

Thus, I did the 25-minute Fit Test today.

First was a warmup, which was fine--jogging, jumping jacks, "heisman" exercises (which I never got the gist of before it moved to the quick-step heisman), butt kicks, high knee lifts, and some sort of arm-scissoring jog-kick things that were called "mummy kicks."

Then there was a few minutes of stretching before the fit test, which consisted of a series of exercises that last for 1 minute with 1 minute or so of rest in between. The first exercise was high switch kicks (whoa, my quads and such are TIGHT), followed by power jacks (jumping jacks with a squat at the end, basically); "power knees"; power jumps (which I just call "jumps"); "globe jumps" (it's just a jump to the left, back, right, and front, in a square); "suicide jumps" (or burpees, which I'm more familiar with--drop to a push up, bring your legs up under your chest, jump, squat, push up, repeat); push-up jacks (as you lower your upper body, open your legs like a horizontal jumping jack--bring your legs back together as you push up); and last but perhaps most fun, the low plank oblique (hold your upper body in a plank position and bring your knee up to your elbow-ish area, alternating each leg). Then a longer stretch session.

For my first attempt, I'm saying I did 0 high switch kicks (I know I did several dozen, but my legs didn't get very high, and I was mostly jogging, so I stopped counting), 29 power jacks, 70 power knees, 20 power jumps (this was more difficult with a not-legal-height ceiling), 0 globe jumps (nigh impossible with the floor space available and low ceiling height), 9 burpees (I was tired, plus ceiling height), 4 push-up jacks (um, no.), and 24 low plank obliques.

I'm a wuss. I was sweaty and tired in minutes. I know endurance is one of my weaknesses--which is why I need to do things like this to build it up. So, I will try.

Let's see how it goes next time!

Gym: 9 January

2012-01-09T21:50:00.000-05:00

Today, after making cream cheese spritz cookies, a roasted apple/caramelized onion/blue cheese tart, and candied orange peel (none of which should ever be included in a weight-loss-approved diet), I went to the gym with David. I biked a random hill program for 52 minutes--the machine said I rode 17.26 miles at an average of 86 revolutions per minute, burning 359 calories with an average heart rate of 116 (I didn't really get my hands on the heart-rate-measuring thing except during the resting periods--I've been wanting a heart rate monitor, but I can never seem to justify the expense when I'm out at a store).

With my legs wobbling and David prodding me to leave after his half-hour of biking and some lat pulldowns I told him to do, I went and did my own lat pulldowns: 2 sets of 12 reps at 110 pounds. I was going to do more, but the number of people in the gym made me less inclined to find an open machine or wait for one, so I asked David to show me some of the stretches he does after cycling (which we did for about 5 minutes).

It has been almost two years since he gave me his old Schwinn trail bike (on which I broke my collar bone the second time), and this is the first time we've stretched together. We'll have to do a lot more of that in preparation for AIDS/LifeCycle!

Activity: 1 January

2012-01-01T16:31:00.001-05:00

For the new year, David and I are pumped--or planning on getting that way. We put on our gym clothes for a little parkour-like activity at Finlay Park, where I made him crawl in the dirt, do push-ups, and jump around like a monkey for 45 minutes. I did a lot of the activity with him, but I spent a chunk of time watching his form while he was crawling and squatting. We ended with stretches, but my right quad still feels a little knotty. It was nice--I enjoyed the opportunity to be in a more instructional role. David says he'd even do it again, and that is quite high praise!

Gym: 30 December

2011-12-30T16:05:00.002-05:00

At a different gym today (part of the hotel this time--a different hotel, closer to downtown Columbia, South Carolina--which means it's tinier than the previous one), I could only handle 10 minutes on the bike and 2 sets with 10 reps at 105 pounds of lat pulldowns before I got tired of the whole scene.

I need to do this more frequently and regain my stamina. It's amazing how quickly it disappears after so much time building it up.

Repercussions

2011-12-29T09:43:00.002-05:00

My workout on Tuesday is kicking my ass today. My biceps are sore and tight and my lower back is sore and achey. My abs, however, are not sore--I need to work on them more.

Gym: 27 December

2011-12-27T20:11:00.002-05:00

I'm here in Irmo, South Carolina, where my beau and AIDS/LifeCycle partner hails from. We are spending the holidays down here. The hotel we're at has a membership agreement with a local fitness centre, so I checked it out this evening.

They don't have the programmable bikes I like (that tell you distance, calories burned, average speed, heart rate, and all that, in addition to the Random Hill programs), so I ended up doing only 10 minutes on the race-bike-type of stationary bike.

Then, I did weight training. I started with 2 sets with 10 reps at 50 pounds of vertical pec decks--yeah, I don't know what that is, either. You sit on the thing and push the bars away from your chest. Then I did 2 sets with 10 reps at 112.5 pounds of lat pulldowns, 2 sets with 10 reps of those back crunch things with a 10 pound weight, and 2 sets with 10 reps at 75 pounds of chest presses (the first 4 reps of the first set was at 87.5 pounds, but then I lowered it). I headed to the gym's rowing weight machine (not a rowing machine--this one is a stationary weight machine with plates and a pin to select the weight. It works the delts, rhomboids, lats, and traps) for 2 sets with 10 reps at 80 pounds. Then, I was outtie.

Strong Incentive To Bike

2011-12-21T15:14:00.002-05:00

Instead of using public transportation, I really should bike everywhere to prepare for AIDS/LifeCycle in June.

Read about my latest public transportation adventure.

Gym: 27 November

2011-11-27T22:02:00.002-05:00

I have plenty of excuses for not having exercised for the past two and a half weeks. I had a lot of hours at my two jobs, I caught the boy's crazy illness that knocked me out for more than a week, and then Thanksgiving. But really, excuses are just that: excuses. They aren't really reasons.

Not having reasons not to go to the gym isn't enough to get me there--I need reasons to go to the gym, or at least some peer pressure. So today, after brunch, more work, and a nice wander around, my boy and I got ready to go to the gym. He got distracted, and I ended up heading over there to watch Netflix on my phone while riding the bike for 57 minutes on a Random Hill program. The bike said I made it 19.31 miles with an average revolutions per minute of 87 (I try to keep it between 95 and 105, but some of those hills were steep--and after the first 40 minutes, my legs started kind of seizing a bit) and an average heart rate of 123 (I didn't really measure my heart rate much), for a grand total of a machine-estimated 525 calories burned.

I didn't do any weight training this time--I thought an hour on the bike was enough. I'll do less bike time and some weights at my next visit this week.

Gym: 9 November

2011-11-09T18:07:00.002-05:00

I have been meaning to go to the gym I just joined during the morning, when I would assume I'd have it basically to myself. That hasn't yet happened, nor has actually going to the gym. So I bit the bullet and went this evening at 5, after "training" at the restaurant (wiping down shelves, unwrapping an ungodly number of chairs, and screwing together tables and such), I went to work out.

After 25 minutes on one of those electricity-generating stationary bikes (48 watt-hours generated), I wobbled off the bike and did some weight training.

I upped the weight for my lat pulldowns this time: 2 sets with 10 reps at 110 pounds. I could have done another set or a greater number of reps, but I do like to conserve my energy to work out other muscles. And I've been feeling icky (not even as close to as icky as the boy, however), so I didn't try to max anything out.

Next were chest presses again, which weren't really things I did before this new gym, but the machine was free, so I went for it and did 2 sets of 10 reps at only 80 pounds. That's more weight than last time, but 2 fewer reps per set.

Last, I did these kind of sit ups for my back. There's this machine that is really just a glorified fulcrum--you brace your feet on the base, lean over the pads that support you on your thighs, and lower and raise your upper body using your abs and back muscles. To make it slightly more challenging, you can hold weights in your hand. I used to do these with personal trainer number two, and I enjoyed feeling the soreness. So I did 2 sets of 10 reps with the added 10 pound weight that was laying nearby.

I won't say this was a vigorous workout or anything particularly amazing. But sometimes, just doing anything is a success.

Gym: 30 October

2011-10-30T21:19:00.003-04:00

I joined a gym, finally. I didn't go back to my old gym, cheap and awesome though it is--I won't be downtown taking lunch breaks nearby, and I know I won't commute to it just for exercise (although an argument could be made that I'd go there to visit my boy, whose office is near my old gym, but I'm realistic--he'll be busy doing that whole working-while-at-work thing).

So I joined the one close to our apartment yesterday, even though the monthly fee is triple that of my old gym. Although I'm blogging activity, being slightly more conscious about eating, and starting to be physically active, I feel I need even more than that, and the collective fitness environment of a gym is encouraging to me.

Today, the beau and I went to the gym together--and not the one near the apartment even, because the only thing it doesn't have is a steam room, and he wanted to relax in one. So, we trekked downtown--and neither one of us brought flip flops for the steam room, so we never went in. Ah well.

I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike, which ended up being about half the distance and half the calculated calories that the beau did in an hour. I shoved that right in his face, but then again, he can go for hours and hours and hours if he'd like; I quit at 30 because I wanted to die.

So I went to this fun ab machine (click for iPhone picture) where you kneel on a pad (either straight or angled to one side) that's on a track and crunch your abs to pull your knees up close to your chest. I did 1 set with 10 reps on each side (angled the pad to the left and then the right) to work the sides of my abs. I hope my "home gym" has this doohickie--I enjoyed it!

Then I did some chest presses, 2 sets of 12 reps at 70 pounds, followed by lat pulldowns, 2 sets of 10 reps at 100 pounds. The last time I did lat pulldowns was 8 August--same sets and reps, but 132 pounds! I felt I could have done more weight today, but I wasn't going to push myself. I can build up to it again, I'm fine with that!

I'm glad I was conservative with the lat pulldown weight--my next machine was the overhead press. I squeezed out 1 set of 8 reps at 70 pounds, then 1 more set of 8 reps at 60 pounds, and I felt wiped--the arm exercises were done for the day.

But David wasn't--he wanted a few more minutes (to get his 1 hour) on the bike--so I looked around and found the rowing machine, which I have only used once or twice with my personal trainer at my previous gym. I did 30 seconds, 60 seconds, and another 60 seconds. Yeah, I think I was supposed to go continuously--but damn, I'm going to feel that one!

So, a 1 hour workout, some good aerobics and weight training, and a fun activity with the boy. I felt I earned all of those hush puppies I just fried up for us for dinner.

Cycling: 23 October

2011-10-24T20:56:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, David and I went for a ride together around Rock Creek Park. We did something a little different from the last time we rode together: I rode his road bike, and he rode my trail bike. The road bike was a lot easier--I could have rode much longer than the 11.1 miles we did, especially because we stopped for about half an hour at a nice picnic area near the creek. But I'm perfectly okay with short trips! By December, hopefully, I'll start being comfortable doing 20-mile rides in one go--without too much complaining!

Beach Drive

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Cycling: 21 October

2011-10-23T13:36:00.004-04:00

On Friday, I biked a bit--6.91 miles over the course of the day, in several trips: the first leg was at 4:30 AM to get to the kitchen for work, the second leg was to get to the restaurant for orientation for my new second job, the third part was to have lunch with David, and the fourth was to get home, with a brief stop-over at Mr. Yogato to pick up my hops plant and put it in a pot here at the apartment.

So, it wasn't a continuous 7 miles, but I got some cycling in, and that's what counts!

Activity: 17 October

2011-10-17T22:31:00.004-04:00

Although I didn't end up going out biking during the beautiful day we had today, I went for a nice walk tonight while David was preparing for his classes later this week. So, I used the time to enjoy the outdoors, make a few calls, and get some calories burned.

I walked 4.82 miles in a little under an hour and a half--that's 18 minutes per mile, or 3.33 miles per hour. Not exactly marathon speed, but it was a nice stroll around some of the neighbourhoods bordering Rock Creek Park and the National Zoo.

iMapMyFITNESS: Oct 17, 2011 22:17

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Cycling: 15 October

2011-10-17T13:58:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, I got a good 10.8 miles in on my bike, as well as 2 hours of squatting while weeding. My quads still feel a little weak from my abysmal 25 miles last Sunday, but I feel good about how it's going--I have biked measurable distances twice in one week, and I've done other activity as well. I am thinking about going biking today, but I'm allowing computer troubles to keep me at home. I want to develop a free-weight routine to do with my beau during the winter, and I wanted to start working on the videos.

Cycling: 9 October

2011-10-10T16:34:00.007-04:00

It was a beautiful weekend: so the beau and I headed out to Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley for a relaxing break.

We brought our bikes and decided to do a short, 25-ish mile ride from a book my boy's previous assistant gave him with bike trails in Virginia.

9 October Ride

And I think I made a good show. I did 24 miles--we added a bit of distance by going the wrong way after stopping at the cafe a little after mile 17. During that break, my legs started feeling like they wouldn't hold my weight (and, in fact, my left leg buckled a little). At about mile 22 or 23, I made David go ahead to get the car (5 miles away). I was slowing down dramatically because my legs were not interested in working anymore, and I was in such low gears and going so slowly going up hills I feared I would just fall right over. After David went ahead, I rested for a bit and then rode another mile and a half or so before he came with the car.

I may have insanely muscular legs, but they don't have endurance. Still, I'm proud of the 24 miles I did in the beautiful, hilly area around the Shenandoah River. It was at least 20 miles more than I have done in one go... Well, almost ever. Except for that one group ride in Saudi Arabia, where the land was completely flat.

Hills kick my butt! But if I want to prepare for AIDS/LifeCycle in June, I have to get used to them--one day of the ride is the "Quadbuster." I'm not looking forward to that ride...

Cycling: 6 October

2011-10-06T21:30:00.003-04:00

I spent an hour cumulative wandering around on my bike today. Okay, so I stopped every 15 minutes for various reasons, but it was still an hour (even if I only ended up clocking 8 miles... It's a start!).

This weekend, hopefully, David and I will head out west an hour or so to some nice mountainous scenery, where we'll go for a half-day trek on our bikes. That will be awesome!

Excuses: 3 October

2011-10-04T10:52:00.003-04:00

Three days of activity and I fell off the wagon. But it wasn't my fault--it rained on my day to cycle! And then the next day was, well, I think I got sick for a few days. And then it was DC State Fair, and it was all cold and wet and stuff. Then I was busy and tired.

My excuse today? No need for one! I biked downtown, and I'll get a few miles in throughout the day. I've been starting to consider eating more calorically and financially thoughtfully, too.

To encourage me to keep it up, however, beyond this blog and gathering around me people who encourage me to be physically active and nutritionally reasonable, I have decided to see whether I can switch my registration for AIDS/LifeCycle 2012 from Roadie to Cyclist. Earlier this year, I went to California (from Saudi Arabia) to volunteer while David cycled for seven days from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We registered for the event this year, too, but he kept nudging me to switch to be a cyclist, even though I'm incredibly intimidated by the entire idea. So... I e-mailed some of the coordinators yesterday. Let's see what happens!

In the meantime, I'll try to bike a bit more--at least twice a week for now (winter is coming, after all). If I get a gym membership, I could perhaps use a stationary bike (which I actually think I enjoy for longer rides, anyway, because I can watch Maangchi cook delicious food) a few times a week, too/instead.

But you! You can help too. I need to raise $3,000 to be able to cycle in the event (which really costs a heck of a lot of money when you have to feed, house, and entertain about 3,000 cyclists, volunteers, and camp "followers" around all of California). So check out my donation page and be generous!

Activity: 23 September

2011-09-23T17:58:00.003-04:00

Well, besides helping bake for 6 hours (which wasn't very physically demanding), I did my third day of the VirtuaGym body-weight program: a repeat from Wednesday's exercises. The entire six weeks of the program is basically just a repeating 5-day cycle of body weight exercises on days 1, 3, and 5 and then running (which I switched to bicycling and doubled the time) on days 2 and 4. The speeds, reps, and times don't change from week 1 to week 6--so I might increase the challenge level as I go.

Even though this is only the second time I did the exercises, I improved my time by 10% (27 minutes instead of 30). I'm still all wiped out after doing them, innocuous though they seem. My shoulders, abs, and the entire area around my butt/groin/quads hurt from the other day. And yet, I felt a lot more capable doing the exercises today, despite the soreness. I love that tightness, the throb of a well-worked muscle. I should start stretching--especially if biking will be my almost-every-other-day aerobic exercise. David, my beau, and I have yoga deals at a nearby studio, so we'll start that this weekend, I think. It's a wonderful activity to complement parkour, so I'm all for it!

Today:

Marched in place for 3 minutes, 20 reps of windmills, 25 squats, 30 reps of lunges (once each leg is a single rep), 12 wall push-ups, 2 sets of 15 reps of "front rotations" (swinging your arms in big, slow circles in front of you), 12 "board to mountain"s, 2 sets of 15 crunches, 12 board holds, 2 sets (10 reps and 6 reps) of back raises, and marching in place for another 2 minutes.

Cycling: 22 September

2011-09-22T19:23:00.003-04:00

Today was Car Free Day in DC. (I want that to be hyphenated, because otherwise there's uncertainty in its meaning, but they don't hyphenate, so I won't either. Sigh.) I got my disc brake fixed on Tuesday, so it's a perfect time to get outside and be car-free!

I biked perhaps 11 or so miles over the course of an hour (split up in three sections). I finally got the iMapMyFitness iPhone app to work with GPS--apparently, I had a setting on somewhere that disallowed it access to GPS.

So, day 2 of my attempt to get back in shape is at least a success! I biked the length of time I planned, got dehydrated, and ate healthy-ish. I'm feeling sore from yesterday's workout (shoulders, arms, those muscles directly under your butt), and I'm terribly happy about it.

Tomorrow may be a challenge: I have paid work from 9 to 3, followed by a 4 to 5 walk-through of the DC State Fair area, and a birthday party in the evening. Before the birthday party is, of course, the time I will need to do the exercising thing. I'm feeling good about the routine at the moment--let's hope I feel the same tomorrow!

Activity: 21 September

2011-09-21T18:03:00.003-04:00

Well, I haven't been terribly active since returning to the US. You would think without employment and such, I'd have more time to get back into shape. That's totally true. And yet...? I don't have a gym membership, and I've been enjoying the lazy life of a houseboy. And last weekend, I bent the disc brake on my front wheel beyond repair when the wheel decided it no longer wanted to be associated with the rest of my bicycle while I was riding to a plant show on Route 1 in Beltsville, Maryland.

So, after feeling a bit disgusted with my lack of physicality, I finally decided to start a body-weight workout program. Inspired by Lifehacker's convict-conditioning workout post, I'm finally getting my fat ass on the floor and doing some crunches.

I'm using VirtuaGym's Chrome App interface--they have an entire series of programs using body-weight exercises. I'm doing a Beginner Shape program: I'm active, but I haven't been regularly for a while, and I'm looking to slim down and build lean muscle rather than strictly tone or build intense musculature. I need to lose another 26 (gasp...!) pounds before I'm back to where I want to be. It's not just a number, however--I could lose 25 pounds and still not look like what I want. I need to eventually build up muscle mass as well while maintaining my weight around 185. VirtuaGym's program would be an awesome circuit workout for muscle toning and weight loss. But not yet--I'm too far removed from that level of activity! I can only do one set of what I did today; my abs and quads hurt already from the lunges, squats, and various push-up-type workouts.

In 30 minutes, I did 11 activities: marched in place for 3 minutes (not as easy as it sounds!), 20 reps of windmills, 25 squats, 30 reps of lunges (once each leg is a single rep), 12 wall push-ups (psshhht, really? I did 'em anyway. Reaallllyyy slowly.), 2 sets of 15 reps of "front rotations" (swinging your arms in big, slow circles in front of you), 12 "board to mountain"s, 2 sets of 15 crunches, 12 board holds, 2 sets (10 reps and 6 reps) of back raises, and marching in place for another 2 minutes.

Taken individually, most of these exercises are piddly. Granted, lunges usually make me unsteady, because it's a repetitive activity that requires balance, and anything involving upper-body strength ("board to mountain"s and board holds) leave me shaking with muscle weakness (because I don't have much in my upper body). But I would likely have been able to do all of these exercises easily--if they hadn't been back-to-back for exactly 30 minutes. I think the workout wasn't supposed to last that long, but I took a break to check my e-mail and get some water. I was (am) also sweaty and disgusting. I clearly need to do this more often.

Tomorrow, the program has me running. Like, outside. For 30 minutes. Maybe I'll change that to bicycling for an hour. I'm not much of a runner.

Cycling: 1 September

2011-09-01T21:17:00.004-04:00

It has been a while since I exercised more than just a commute. Since I have returned to Washington, DC, I have not been to a gym, of course, but I have cycled almost every day--if only a few hundred feet (sometimes several miles interspersed throughout the day). But I don't count all of that, because it's commute--not sustained activity with the intention of burning calories.

Today, I rode up to Takoma Park for Soupergirl's restaurant's soft opening. I could have walked, or rode the metro, or taken the bus, but I didn't--I biked! It was good, a lot of small hills and cars. I need to do this more often so I can ride with my other half!

Home to Takoma Park

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How To Ship A Bicycle

2011-08-22T16:06:00.001-04:00

When traveling with a bicycle, one must observe the carrier's regulations and specifications. For example, I will be flying British Airways back to Washington, DC, via London. British Airways allows two checked luggage items of 23 kilograms or less each for such international flights. One of those items may be substituted for appropriately packaged sporting equipment of equal or lesser weight for no additional charge. For bikes, packaging must be a bike box or bike bag.

But what does one do when one lives in Saudi Arabia and the local bike shop doesn't seem to understand that bicycles actually get shipped in boxes, not fully assembled on the back of pick-ups?

I gave a thought to just wrapping the entire bike up in some clear plastic like a bag, but I wanted a modicum of protection. So I cut up some small cardboard boxes and taped them together around the bike to fashion my own bike box--at just under 17 kilograms, I'm certain this feat of engineering will protect my bicycle while en route to DC.

My only concern is the British Airways employee I'll encounter at 7:15 AM on Wednesday--will s/he accept my second item of checked luggage? S/he better...!

Cycling: 18 August

2011-08-18T11:37:00.004-04:00

I made a rice and chickpea vegetable stew today followed by peanut butter sesame seed scones.

Both were delicious. But I ate a ton.

So I went for an hour-long bike ride. I went out to one of the as-yet unopened beaches and climbed a sand hill for a while, then I followed along the tall security fence with the chicken wire on top for a bit. I traipsed around the undeveloped desert area that will at some point be... Something.

I don't know if it's dehydration, lack of frequent activity, or just that I didn't do it in a group, but I didn't push myself as much as when I went on the group ride a few weeks ago. I wish I had time for it in the past few weeks, but, y'know, something always came up. This, my last week at KAUST, will be no different: my house inspection is at the same time as the ride on Saturday, and my last night in the Kingdom is the Tuesday ride. I could probably ride then--but I just cleaned my bike and I plan on breaking it down, padding it, and creating a makeshift bike box for airport transit.

Cycling: 12 August

2011-08-12T11:17:00.002-04:00

It's official: I'm moving back to Washington DC for gushy romantic reasons. My last day in Saudi Arabia is 23 August--my flight back leaves at 5 AM on 24 August, and then it'll be a whirlwind of activity for DC State Fair on 27 August.

So I've been keeping very busy, organizing contests for the Fair, planning and packing for an international move, and attempting to find employment back in DC. It's quite stressful, so on top of the emotional trauma of moving in general, moving internationally, starting a new job, and all of that, I now am going through it all again, but in a shorter time frame, with a bunch of other stresses on top of it.

So, I needed a break. I have been feeling hella fat lately (and I am, because of Ramadan. I basically feel as if I'm sneaking any meal during daylight--it makes me eat even more, if that's possible.), so I thought going for a bike ride would be great to relieve a bit of tension and make me feel a little better about my physical shape.

Not so! I went out for about 40 minutes this afternoon. But there is apparently sand all up in my chain, and I might be a little dehydrated--it was a rough ride, even on mostly paved surfaces. And, because of Ramadan, I've been told it's considered uncouth to drink water in front of people during daylight hours. So I had to find hidden places to sneak a drink of water. Which means I didn't really drink any water.

One of the impatiences I have at KAUST is the physical activity--not that it doesn't exist, because it seems to, but the lack of a culture of support (thus this blog, which does actually help, but I still need more). I miss parkour, but I could get over that--yoga has been interesting, and there are other classes I could have seen myself getting into. But my motivation isn't there. The environment in Washington DC is really a lot more conducive to physical and nutritional health. Or, rather, it's easier for me to be healthy and active there.

I look forward to my return--when I get there, this blog will most certainly be updated more frequently, because I'll be more active. Although I packed most of my personal possessions for transport already, I still have my gym clothes and bike--they'll come with me on the plane, because I fully intend to use them up until my last day here.

Yoga: 8 August

2011-08-08T14:00:00.007-04:00

I went to yoga tonight. I actually enjoy it, which almost surprises me. But the holds, movements, and stretches really do work a lot of muscles. Especially ones that I seriously need to either develop, tone, or loosen--arms, abs, and hamstrings, respectively, pretty much.

I will be hurting tomorrow. And Wednesday. But I'm going to continue doing physical activity every day, because I eat like crazy every day. I need to balance it somehow!

Gym: 8 August

2011-08-08T06:20:00.002-04:00

Continuing on my theme of "short workouts are better than no workouts," I went to the gym for lunch again today. I can tell that my arms will be sore from yesterday's workout, but it does usually take two days to feel the full burn. I spent less time on weightlifting and more time on the bike, anyhow.

I did 20 minutes on the stationary bike: my average heart rate was 147 beats per minute with a high of 163 and my average speed was 27.96 kilometers per hour (or 17.37 miles per hour). Not bad, I think, considering that my resting heart rate falls below 60 bpm and I kept slowing down on the bike today.

After bicycling (and rehydrating--in the middle of the day during Ramadan, even!), I decided to hit the lat pulldown machine. I hadn't been able to recall the weight I had used the last time (it had been so long!), and feeling that the machine was a familiar friend, I decided to stick the little pin under the 60 kilogram plate. Yup, 132 pounds. That's about 15 pounds more than I ever did in DC, even, and of course I didn't figure that out until after the fact. And yet, I struggled out 2 sets of 10 reps each, although the last few reps in the second set were, well, weak. Looking back, the last time I used the machine, I had done 50 kilograms (110 pounds)--not very different, but I remember that being a struggle!

I decided to call it quits after that and stretched my gluts, hamstring, quads, and more hamstring for 5 minutes. I will be going to yoga tonight, also--that'll work the abs that desperately need that help!

Gym: 7 August

2011-08-07T10:26:00.000-04:00

It's been a hella long time since I was last in the gym, it seems! I haven't done a great deal outside of the gym, either--just bicycling and snorkeling, once each. In general, at least, I'm a bit more active by bicycling to and from work each day. But it's Ramadan, and the idea of fasting makes me ravenous, so I've been eating even more--but less often, which isn't really the way to go.

At least I have cut back on my latte intake. And at least I have been a little bit active--it's an improvement from nothing at all! Tiny steps.

Keeping that in mind, today I had something of a light workout.

I warmed up on the stationary bicycle for 10 minutes at what initially was a nice intensity but quickly became drudgery. Probably because during Ramadan, I cannot drink water in public, and my office is encased in glass.

Abandoning the aerobics, I did 2 sets of 12 reps each of low rows with 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds). Then I thought that it was too easy and did a third set of 12 reps.

On the pec machine, I did 2 sets of 12 reps with 40 kilograms. My muscles weren't happy with me on that one.

By the time I got to the shoulder press, my muscles were unhappy with the activity they weren't used to doing anymore. So I did 1 set of 10 reps at 30 kilograms (about 66 pounds).

I finished off the workout with 2 sets of 10 reps of plank walks.

I think it was about 30 minutes, all told. Tomorrow night, I have a yoga appointment with a friend. Gotta keep it movin'!

Machine: Low Row

2011-08-07T08:44:00.002-04:00

The low row machine is something I am not sure I used prior to coming to KAUST. The machine primarily works the lats, with a dash of biceps tossed in for good measure.

Machine: Shoulder Press

2011-08-07T08:41:00.002-04:00

These machines are named so creatively, aren't they? The shoulder press works the shoulder muscles--the deltoids, as well as a bit of the triceps and traps.

Machine: Stationary Bicycle

2011-08-07T08:33:00.003-04:00

The stationary bicycle works, of course, the legs. For me, primarily the quadriceps. I'd love to work my hamstrings, but I don't pull my leg up on the uppedal--I only push down, which works the quads. Either way, I mostly use the stationary bicycle as a calorie-burning warm-up activity. I don't focus terribly on developing muscle in my legs, I have way too much there as it is! Other activities are needed to tone and hone the muscles there.

Snorkeling: 4 August

2011-08-05T06:36:00.000-04:00

For my birthday yesterday, I treated myself to a snorkeling adventure that's organized every Thursday from the campus marina. About 16 of us went out to this awesome, really long reef somewhere in the Red Sea and hopped in to swim around. I don't have a protective underwater case for my camera, so I don't have any photos of fun coral or fish. Which would have been nice, because I'm not conscious enough in the mornings to remember to put contacts on for such an outing and I couldn't wear glasses with the snorkel mask--I was pretty damn well blind unless I was right up next to coral and fish. Next time I go snorkeling, I'll definitely remember the contacts. It was still awesome, and I was exhausted afterward. I think I might have been out for an hour or an hour and a half of swimming.

In the photo above, you can see waves break against the reef and the bright blue patches of water where the reef is.

Cycling: 30 July

2011-07-30T13:18:00.003-04:00

Today was the first group ride I attended with the campus cycling club. They have mountain/trail bike sessions on Saturday and Tuesday evenings for an hour. I have never before ridden as part of a group (unless you count that one time I wheezed up Connecticut Avenue from Adams Morgan to Cleveland Park and pretty much gave up while the two others traveled ahead to the coffee shop to wait for me).

Today, however, I kept grinning like no one's business. It was pure awesome. Glorious. Amazing. Sweaty. I feel tired, but I could have whipped it out, climbed some hills, and fallen a few more times. I only fell once, trying to mount a 5-foot-tall sand incline thing. Everyone else was doing it, but I was timid and didn't power through. But I'm fine (I know you worry)--it wasn't a steep incline, so I could easily catch myself as I slid back and tumbled.

Riding through sand, however, is tough work. It's worth it, however--it's much more fun and effective doing road/trail/beach riding than random resistance training on the stationary bicycle at the gym. I got a much better workout outside than I believe I ever would have on the bike inside the gym. Plus, I got to meet a lot of cool people--and even prodded one of them to get some work-related stuff done for me.

I would love to log a route on MapMyRide, but it doesn't have satellite imagery that includes the campus (a problem encountered because of the expedited university construction). I was told the 1-hour ride was about 15 kilometers (almost 10 miles). So it isn't a terribly far distance, but there were hills, beaches, and other parts that made it a challenge. Although I'm sure many of my friends wouldn't have any issue at all riding here--it is, in actuality, very flat and nice, and as long as you bring enough water, it's not very different from riding in Washington, DC--except for the almost complete lack of traffic.

Excuses

2011-07-28T08:47:00.000-04:00

I have found many reasons not to exercise this week. I have suggestions of "gym," "yoga," and "cycling" in a reasonable schedule on my calendar--it adds up to about 9 hours of physical activity a week. I think that's a good number! And how much of that did I do this week? Exactly none of it, so far. I still have the chance to go to the gym tomorrow, before the full week is over and I wasted it by not working out. But I'll probably skip that and just make some delicious gyungdan for a house party late tomorrow afternoon.

But as a self-flagellatory exercise, let me list the excuses I found reasonable at the time here:

DC State Fair Board Meeting
Goodbye dinner for departing coworker
Goodbye lunch for same departing coworker
Lunch with nondeparting coworkers
Waiting to have a meeting that never happened and didn't have a lunch break
Had to "get stuff done" that never got done
Had to prepare food for a late brunch I invited people to

Lately, my work schedule has been a bit up in the air--things happen with only minutes for me to prepare for them, sometimes. Or things that I prepare for don't necessarily happen. So although I do get lunch every day, sometimes it's later than what seems reasonable, and those days, instead of taking a late lunch break to go to the gym, I grab some food and come back to the office. After work is always hard, as a general rule for tons of people. The desire to just go home and veg out is strong in most of us. It's doubly strong for me, as I am attempting not to fall at the running pace of DC State Fair stuff as well as still unpacking and keeping in contact with loved ones.

Maybe I'll start getting some sort of order in my life, in terms of exercise, at least. Or, I might have to start being comfortable with squeezing it in wherever I can and just acknowledging that it might not be at my most motivated times.

Machine: Bicycle

2011-07-27T07:01:00.003-04:00

Not the stationary kind, either! No, this baby is fully functional: 24 speed, 19.5 inch frame, rugged 26 inch wheels for both trail and town riding, hydraulic disc brakes, coil-spring front suspension with hydraulic lockout (I don't really know what that means, but it has it!), Shimano gear shifts, pleasing black and white design with random red accents... What more could a man ask for?

Perhaps a bike rack and a lock? And a well-adjusted bum, too. I have had this bike for a week, and my poor little cushion is all sore. I don't really ride it all that much--to and from work, primarily. I joined the Cycling Club on campus, and I plan on attending their hour-long rides on Saturday and Tuesday evenings, but I still need a water bottle and holder for the bike, as well as the motivation to leave work early enough to go home and change into different clothes before the rides.

I feel as if this bike needs a name. It has personality. I want to call it something like "Railbank." I don't know why it popped into my head, but it did and I like the sound of it. Then I Googled, and it turns out railbanking is a real word--it is the process of preserving unused train tracks that are sometimes converted into public-use cycling trails. I thought it would be more like using a guard rail or even hand rail to bank (in the sense of altering your vertical position to a tilted one while turning, not the act of going to the financial institution to store monetary goods), but I guess reclamation for recreation is bad-ass, too.

Gym: 20 July

2011-07-20T11:42:00.003-04:00

Today, despite my soreness, I wanted to try to repeat Monday's routine. I even had fantasies of attending tonight's yoga class. But driving full-tilt after such a long period of almost utter nonmovement isn't healthy, and all those collarbone breaks and physical therapy taught me to listen to my body when it says "Halas!" (One of the very few Arabic words I've been able to pick up--it means "Enough!")

I overworked myself on Monday--not in an incapacitating way, but I'm more sore than I'd like to be two days after a workout. It also shows me how much stretching I don't do, and I definitely should be.

The stationary bike was broken today, so I hopped on the treadmill. For 12 minutes. That may possibly be the longest time I've been on such a contraption in well over a year. I don't deal well with running, although I find I'm able to last much longer on a treadmill than outside (where a block and a half is about as far as I get). I averaged 9.1 kilometers per hour (about 5.65 miles per hour) and was doing a preset incline gradient program. There were periods of 2%, 3%, 4%, and two 6% spikes sandwiched between no-incline portions. I increased the speed of the treadmill during the incline periods, but really and truly, running kicks my butt, so on the flat portions, I slowed it down to a nice walk so I could wipe my face, grab some water, and check my heart rate for fun (highest was about 167, although it descended rapidly to about 140 before the next incline/speed increase).

I repeated the 50 kilogram lat pulldowns from Monday, but this time pushing through 12 reps in both sets.

I wimped out on the pec machine, however: 2 sets of 10 reps with only 35 kilograms. But my pecs are more, well, not-pecs.

And that was all. Less than 30 minutes of activity (tinkering with the broken bike and alerting the staff about it ate up 10 minutes, and I had to grab some lunch before a meeting). But that's less than 30 minutes I would have otherwise not been active at all. Success!

Machine: Pec

2011-07-20T11:41:00.000-04:00

The pec machine works, well, the pecs (pectorals). Instead of man-boobs, I hope to develop functional muscle groups that also look stunning outside of a shirt.

Machine: Lat Pulldown

2011-07-19T16:17:00.000-04:00

The lat pulldown machine works the shoulder, biceps, and back muscles. (Trap, biceps, and lats--thus, lat pulldown machine.)

Workout: Side-Rotating Weight Things

2011-07-19T16:10:00.001-04:00

Using my iPhone, this is the best I could do to record the side-rotating weight things.

I hold a side plank position and rotate my upper body to put my hand with the weight through the space between my chest and arm. I can never remember whether I'm supposed to rotate my hips or not, but I don't think I'm fully supposed to. It works a hell of a lot of muscle groups, but I like it because I think it works the sides of my abs.

I will have to figure out how to take better videos if I want to keep posting them. I was at least able to remove the sound--there was a British lady on the television in the gym talking about something or other, and I was breathing heavy and counting audibly.

Yoga: 18 July

2011-07-19T15:43:00.001-04:00

I attended my first-ever yoga session last night. My best friend Brittany is a big ol' fan of yoga, so it seemed appropriate to spend the evening of her birthday doing yoga for the first time.

It was a great experience--static holds are not something my muscles are used to, but I enjoyed the hour and definitely sweated. I'm very sore all over, kind of like the first time I did parkour. Both yoga and parkour seem to hit most of the muscles in your body--and when you're unused to using them, it's amazing where you end up feeling sore. The soles of my feet are killing me right now!

Gym: 18 July

2011-07-19T15:21:00.008-04:00

I am trying to go to the gym under the library during lunch--it's outside my office and right down the stairs, so there's no real reason why I can't go regularly. I have gone a few times, but I'm turning it into a regular habit and will hopefully follow through if I engage myself by posting those workouts here.

The first log is from yesterday, 11:55 AM to 12:45 PM.

I cycled for 5 minutes on the stationary bike to warm up before starting a kind of random-hill-type activity for 33 minutes. I am still figuring out how to use the bike--it's not as fancy as the preset-activity ones I'm familiar with. I have found it difficult to build up to even this length of time on the stationary bike. I have been on it about three or four times in the past two weeks, and each time has been easier, but I feel like I'm slogging, not pumping along as I had been before.

The following numbers do not include the 5 minute warm-up session.

Average speed: 18.4 miles per hour
Average heart rate: 145 beats per minute
Heart rate high: 171 beats per minute

I stretched my legs for about 3 minutes, focusing on my hamstring, mostly, which is tight as all get out anyway.

Then I worked on the lat pulldown machine--2 sets of 12 and 10 reps, both at 50 kilograms (about 110 pounds). I had been doing 2 sets of 15 reps at about 100 pounds back in DC, so I'm satisfied with this.

I did 1 set with 10 reps of plank walks. Kind of like this video I found, but I don't use the inertia of my swinging lower body to help me in the motion.

I did 10 reps on each side of side-rotating weight things (video) that my DC personal trainer Hanna taught me. The weight was 8 kilograms (about 17.6 pounds)--the other option was only 4 kilograms, and that just seemed too little to me. I think I had built up to 15 pounds when my personal trainer made me do these, but I also did more than one set (Sometimes. I think.).

I then attempted a hollow hold, which lasted for 15 seconds. Then I did 15 crunches, followed by demotivation and a shower.